Cold this weekend, but turning even colder into next week

Snow is expected to return to the United Kingdom next week, along with bitterly cold winds from Siberia dubbed the "Beast from the East".

The Met Office said the air over the United Kingdom will probably be at its coldest since March 2013 and warned London and the South East of England will be first impacted by snow, with "significant" accumulations expected.

It's looking to be one of the most extreme examples of it's kind in years. Temperatures will be below freezing by day and night with a strengthening easterly wind developing through the week.

The wind is making it feel even colder, but if you think this weekend is cold, it's set to turn colder still into next week.

Prof Adam Scaife, from the Met Office Hadley Centre, said: "This warming results from a breakdown of the usual high-altitude westerly winds and it often leads to a switch in our weather: with cold easterly conditions more likely to dominate subsequent United Kingdom weather". Like next week's cold snap the big freeze of March 2013 was triggered by SSW.

We see this scenario every two to three winters, but this time the situation is more intense.

That was the coldest start to Spring since the 1980s, when temperatures were below freezing with snow falling as far south as London and the Isle of Wight at the end of March.